The Six Thinking Hats
by Rebel Paisley
Summary: Because nothing said 'competent saviors of the universe' like a bunch of teenagers resorting to *hats* to solve a problem. Hunter has issues with this. And then he has issues with other things.


The Six Thinking Hats

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. I am not making a profit from this story; it is for entertainment purposes only.

Summary: Because nothing said 'competent saviors of the universe' like a bunch of teenagers resorting to _hats_ to solve a problem. Hunter has issues with this. And then he has issues with other things. Luckily he has good friends.

Warnings: Adult language and mentions of homosexual relationships.

Notes: Established Hunter/Shane, Cam/Dustin, Blake/Tori. Any Moment A verse, takes place sometime after the story.

There's this thing out there called "the Six thinking Hats", how for every problem/undertaking you need to wear different "hats" to best figure out a way to overcome it. Each hat is a different way of thinking. I learned about this and then, you know, plot bunnies : )

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"This is stupid."

Oh yes, _yes,_ it was monstrously unbelievable just _how_ stupid this was, and if someone had to take record of it Hunter was almost certain they would lose their will to live, if they could even put forth the effort to judge it, because _that_ was just how idiotic this entire idea was.

"That," Cam droned, and he didn't put a lot of effort in hiding his irritation when he fixed the blond with a glare, "like the last five times you have said it, is noted."

Cam narrowed his eyes in warning near the end of this, his silent way of saying _"Now shut up, or so help me I will wrangle your boyfriend into as many unnecessary meetings as possible, because I'm a petty bitch and hate your face"_, and Hunter had to restrain himself from grabbing Shane's arm protectively because Hunter was _not_ afraid of Cam, no, shut up, he _wasn't_, he just liked spending time with his boyfriend. And the fact that Cam had figured out Shane-deprivation was a punishment was totally _not_ Hunter's fault. Because hey, how was he supposed to know he had been encroaching on too much of Dustin's Cam-time? No one told him. No one _warned_ him. He was almost certain Blake and Shane had been waiting for Cam to lose it for entertainments sake alone (the damn turncoats), and then the tech _had_, and now Hunter and a certain green ranger sometimes did battle by hogging time with the other's boyfriend, and maybe they watched movies with them, and made them dinner and-

Okay, so the whole thing had been stupid, especially when Shane had gotten tired of it (Dustin hadn't noticed, or if he had, he liked Hunter's deep-dish pizza nights too much to care), so Hunter had backed off, but sometimes…

Well, he and Cam would always have their issues.

The tech seemed to sense his thoughts and glared at Hunter again for good measure (or it could have just been from the usual amount of disdain he had for the blond, it was hard to tell), and despite the overwhelming urge to take satisfaction in his small victory (spreading discontent, _in your face Cam_), Hunter frowned and glanced to the side, refusing to look like he had invested enough energy in this stupid activity to give a crap.

Shane, who found their infighting amusing to an almost worrying amount, you know, considering he was team leader, scoffed _(the bastard)_, and Hunter was assaulted by the steadfast silence of Cam being unimpressed by his aloofness.

Shane laughed this time, and Hunter glared, whacking the side of his arm.

This _was_ stupid.

He shared this much again, just for the record, but Cam didn't bother dignifying him with a response as Hunter had reached his limit (which he didn't always reach, as sometimes they digressed into mild brawling when left to their own devices). Dustin did though, because he was helpful like that, and decking them all out in color-coded hats was probably two thoughts away from happening in his world anyway.

That or yoga. It was hard to tell with him sometimes (that being _always_).

"Come on dude, you should try to be more positive."

This was coming from the only guy who had actually gotten to wear his own color, Blake having only briefly encroached on this territory until Cam had to take his hat away from over-snarkiness. Hunter had tried, _tried_ to recreate this feat to no degree of success, though that was probably his punishment because Blake had at least _wanted_ to try whatever team-building exercise Cam had doomed on them from the depths of his "better leadership" books. Hunter was pretty sure those things were only used for corporate businesses, but Cam had stopped acknowledging that as an argument about two minutes in, which had reduced Hunter to sulking as fiercely as he was able to while looking like he gave exactly _no_ damn's about this afternoon wasted and being decked out in a black hat.

Tori had gotten the red one.

Shane and Hunter had pointedly not been mad about this. Not after the first warning glare. After that they had been on their best behavior.

"Hey," he said, slinking further down onto the couch, "I'm just trying to do my job."

Black was the "mean hat" (Dustin's words), in charge of cutting down all bad ideas and being genuinely negative. It did not escape him that Cam had been very insistent about him wearing this stupid hat, everyone else too busy not being surprised to stand up for him. Including his boyfriend.

Cam frowned and batted Dustin's hand away from his white hat, who had been attempting to put it at a _"jovial tilt"_ since this whole mess began.

"You're supposed to be pointing out flaws for the issue in question, not criticizing the method of approaching said issue."

Cam didn't manage to completely hide his aggravation, giving Hunter the feeling he didn't want to be here either, doing this no less, and the odds of this being Dustin's idea steadily grew.

Second victory, if they were both miserable they could use their superior minds and natural animosity to make everyone else regret doing this. All they had to do was keep picking a fight and either A) They'd eventually get off topic and no one would remember the original argument, B) escalate to a physical fight, from which they would be pulled apart by their respective partners and separated, and then quite possibly C) respective partners didn't think to put them in different rooms, and then they started fighting again.

It was a wonder they got anything done, really.

_Eh,_ whatever. First things first.

"I'm sorry;" Hunter leered, leaning forward with his biggest _'up yours'_ grin, "did you think I hated the hats? I _love_ the hats; we should wear them all the time. Nothing says 'competent saviors of the universe' like a bunch of teenagers resorting to _hats_ to solve an issue."

Dustin began to look a little nervous, somehow sensing the growing tension. "Positive thoughts guys, really."

Hunter didn't bother pointing out that wishing "positive thoughts" on people and actually saying something _positive_ were two different things. Misuse of the yellow hat, right there. Someone should be penalized. The blond also refrained from pointing out that pointing _that_ out would be completely in the realm of duties for _his_ hat. Because he had the mean hat. The black one, the evil one. Which was _oh_-so appropriate for him which was why he was wearing it and _not_ why-

This was stupid.

Shane sighed, weary, putting an end to their banter before it could end in a fight. "Alright, enough. Let's focus."

Dustin, still discontent and bothered by Hunter's general disapproval, fidgeted in his seat, messing with his sleeves. "Why won't you give this a chance?"

This was, _damn_, collateral damage, probably. Definitely. Hunter didn't _like_ making Dustin unhappy (no one did), but Dustin, he was almost like a third brother, a brother who could be just as distrusting and gloriously cynical as Hunter and Blake on a good day, and the blond didn't want him to feel bad, he just- the hats, he didn't _like_ being conformed to one role. It kept bringing up bad memories of choking Blake on the beach, of fighting off ninja ghosts, and while that was really only partially their fault (the ghosts at least, not the choking) it wasn't relevant to now even _kind've,_ so Hunter would very much like his stupid head to stop drawing connections to things about other things that weren't problems anymore.

This was Shane's fault. Making Hunter become more in touch with his feelings was like pulling out the bottom most support in his wall, and only epic and entertaining destruction would follow, always at his expense.

He didn't like being put in a corner. This hat, it was like, his ultimatum. What encompassed him as a person.

And no one had argued about it.

It was stupid.

Hunter ignored it, badly, and tried to put out a reasonable explanation for him disliking this hat problem thing. "I don't like being told to think a certain way; it's limiting us from what we normally do."

Blatant lie, they had yet to see if it was actually effective because Hunter kept delaying them with his whining. Maybe if he just shut up and allowed the discussion to happen he could take his stupid hat off and carry out the rest of the evening feeling like crap.

_Wait? What was that? Too logical? _

Yeah, that's what he thought.

_Just continue your useless procrastination, that's what normal people do when they've lost a fight that never needed to happen. No, no, by all means, continue._

Seriously Shane, Hunter used to be badass. Mentally, the baddest of asses.

Cam echoed his condemnation, tone almost as condescending as Hunter's inner mantra.

He rolled his eyes. "Normal protocol wasn't working, it was only logical we seek out an alternative approach to problem solving."

And wasn't he sitting pretty in his white hat, the logical hat, only interested in the facts. Appropriate. Undeniably his.

Hunter wanted to punch him for it.

It was everything he wasn't. Or, almost everything he used to be.

In not-over-angsty-teenage-ville the conversation kept going.

Blake scoffed and rolled his head in Tori's lap, trying to get a better look at Cam. "Hunter just doesn't like being told what to do."

No one argued this (but Hunter wasn't bothered by this one, it was the small victories, really), and then Blake got a hopeful look and batted his eyes up at Tori. "Can I have my hat back?"

The reply was instant, but Tori was a little more gentle compared to Cam's stern command when they both said, "No."

Blake shrugged, like he was expecting it (they all were) and Hunter sighed, pulling the cap off his head.

"Here," he grumbled, _so_ nonchalant, "take my stupid hat."

Take it so he would stop obsessing over things that had happened months ago, and he could stop being such a whiny little prat and get on with his life. Sometimes he thought his head just liked to screw with him, throw him unnecessary curveballs his childhood hadn't prepared him to cope with. Not well. In fact, his head probably went for the stuff he would react to the most badly, so he could be the guy who freaked out over being assigned a certain colored _hat_. Yep, that was a specially reserved humiliation, just for defects like him.

Oh…oh wow, he really just thought that.

_Weak_.

Dustin frowned, because how could Hunter not see how perfectly it had balanced out?

"Dude, that one's yours, and you haven't even used it on-"

He cut the mechanic off, glaring at no one in particular. "Why do _I _have to wear the black one?"

There were six colors; the blue one was more retrospective than anything else, which was why it's loss wasn't mourned, green for pumping out ideas (Shane), yellow for listing their positive attributes (Dustin), white for listing facts (Cam), black for pointing out their faults (undeniably Hunter), and Tori's, Tori's stupid hat was…

Aside from color, it didn't have many redeeming qualities.

You could hear a pin drop, or crickets chirping, or some absurd combination of both where a bunch of clumsy crickets simultaneous dropped a magnitude of pointy needles, and Shane shrugged. "_The best tool for the job"_, it said.

Yeah, the best tool for mind control, for wanting desperately to murder your friends, and family, and _Shane_-

Hunter swallowed, biting back whatever comment his brain wanted to spit out and went back to picking a fight. With words, no weapons, no hurting, no-

"Seriously?" He said, glaring at them all. "You guys suck." He turned and looked pointedly at Shane. "All of you."

Shane wasn't affected by the actual words, but by this point he was beginning to tell that irritating-for-amusement-Hunter was stepping down for having-mini-crisis-the-he-desperately-tried-to-cover-up-with-irritation-Hunter, which the blond was both relieved and mildly horrified of. But hey- at least he had someone in his corner. Maybe. He may have misconstrued that eyebrow tilt.

They should try talking with words sometime.

Tori tried to be the responsible one and pull them back on track before Shane could say anything about it. "Can we just focus on-"

Hunter hadn't decided if he wanted the red ranger to call him out on anything yet, so he tried to change the subject. He still had a smile plastered on his face as he leaned forward, mocking, panic tight in his stomach. "Why don't you tell us how we feel Tori? Since you have the hat of _feelings_."

Awkward, awkward hat. He was so glad he didn't have it. Maybe. He could probably say how someone felt about something, hypothetically, so maybe it wouldn't be as bad as his evil-hat of doom that no one wanted.

When she got an almost gleefully evil look on her face, Hunter immediately began regretting opening his stupid mouth.

Stupid, like how he fell for Lothor's-

Was he brain damaged? Why was this bothering him _now_?

"Shane's amused," Tori began, ticking off on her fingers, and Hunter pulled himself back, "Dustin's a little sad, Blake's regretful, Cam's irritated, and you, _you-_"

Are a mess. Are a freak. Are stupid, _stupid_. Have issues with authority. Don't like change. Don't like people. Are insecure. Why do we keep you around again? It's not the fighting we're concerned about, your fighting is awesome, look at you go all smashy-smash over all those monsters, but for things like this, why are you here? You should go home. Go somewhere where we don't have to worry about you succumbing to evil influences, because if someone's gonna do it, it's you, you're basically just one shove from going psycho bananas, why are you-

Apparently Tori hadn't managed to spit out whatever he was feeling during his mental tirade and Shane interrupted her, quietly stern. "Tori, come on."

If he casually draped an arm across the sofa behind Hunter the crimson ranger didn't notice, and if Hunter scooted fractionally closer to him it was to get more comfortable, not because he felt a modicum of relief. Not because he felt safer.

Tori's smile faltered, like she crossed a line (it was a _hat_, he was fine, they didn't need to step lightly around his issues).

"Fine," she said, leaning back, and Cam's interest was immediately peaked, wondering what he had missed out on. Hunter didn't look at Blake, because his brother already knew something was wrong, he was already reviewing the conversation to reverse engineer Hunter's problems, like he always had, and Hunter wasn't sure what to do, what to say, how to explain-

"It's just a hat," Dustin whispered, pulling at his sleeve again because his idea had led to bad things, and he didn't like bad things, and Hunter frowned.

"It's an evil hat," he grumbled, and _holy crap_ did he not mean to project his stupid insecurities in front of the whole freaking team, because just like that they're all still. Like, _"Oh, that's your problem for today"_, and Blake was nodding like it made sense and Tori just gave him the pity eyes. Dustin leaned against Cam, confused, while the tech mentally dissected the conversation and compared it to previous data to see if it added up. When it did, he nodded too, and in a brief moment of generosity he focused his attention on Dustin, not weighing Hunter down with the judging look in his eyes.

Shane didn't try to be subtle this time, just sidled up right beside him, draping his arm across Hunter's shoulders and pulling him against his side. He didn't protest, couldn't, not with something this _stupid_ on the line-

"It's not stupid."

Hunter was trying to figure out the nicest way to inform Dustin he was wrong, that they had moved on to something else and he was sorry about being angry over the hats, but the look on the yellow ranger's face made him stop, because he got it, finally, and he was determined to prove Hunter wrong.

He got up quickly and crossed the room in a few steps, plucking the cap off of the blond's head and trading it out for his own before leaning back to study his handiwork.

"It's not stupid," he repeated, hands still for once, focused. "Thinking it's stupid, that, _that's_ stupid, but not-" he trailed off and rubbed his arms thinking, then looked back at Hunter, resolute.

"It's okay to not be okay, sometimes," he finished, and then before Hunter could stop him the mechanic enveloped him in a hug, and Hunter returned it, because it was Dustin, and if there was anyone it was okay to have sappy, reassuring moments in front of a crowd with, it was Dustin, no questions asked.

The others drew closer to them, Cam plopping down on his other side to eventually reclaim Dustin, Tori and Blake settling down at their feet in front of the sofa, leaning back against it, and Hunter sighed, feeling better, not feeling-

"Guilty," Tori said, like the creepy mind reader she was, but it wasn't said with any malice, no implications of shame or guilt. She just smiled at him, over her shoulder, her _"Yeah, that sucks, so much I can't describe it, but-"_

But he was here, and _not_ crazy or prone to murdering people, so he supposed that some things, some certain things could finally be buried. Slowly maybe, shovelful by shovelful, but, it helped, knowing that there were people here who had his back, no matter how much he worried about the things of the past.

"So," Shane said, smile in his voice, "no more thinking hats?"

Blake huffed, resting his head against the side of Hunter's knee. "No more thinking caps."

Tori sighed, looking at the ceiling, getting ready to say what they were all feeling.

"Picking out a movie shouldn't be this hard."

Which was absolute bupkis, because the only mildly well adjusted people on the team were Shane and Tori who really, really should have seen this coming.

"We'll just take turns," Dustin replied happily, snuggling his black hat against Cam's white, and Tori turned and took a picture with her phone, immediately sending copies to the rest of them. Shane tilted his head against Hunters, lips brushing against his ear before turning to face the front, and tugged on Hunter's yellow hat, knowing that even though it wasn't _quite_ a perfect fit, they were rangers, and they weren't limited to one way of thinking. Not about past mistakes, and not about moving forward.

He nudged his hat against Shane's green, not bothering to hide when Tori captured their moment too.

Blake, true to his discipline, had somehow ninja'd his hat back from who knew where, but no one bothered to call him on it.

It was just a hat, after all.

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Endnotes:

This is what happens when I get suckered into going to a Facilitator Update for Girl Scouts. The moment they told us about the hats I immediately started thinking about how it would apply to the team, and how Hunter would think it was stupid, and then somehow his past issues with being brainwashed snuck in there and-

Well, you know the rest. Hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time.

Oh, ps, if anyone has suggestions for a specific type of hat for a specific ranger feel free to pm me, I'm going to start working on the image for this story soon ; )


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